The hardiest and most popular of all the tree ferns. Nothing will add the drama to a shady spot than a dicksonia will. The most important thing when growing dicksonia is it must have plenty of water especially when rooting. The fronds can be 2m or more even on small trunks if well watered and fed regularly. We recommend a specialist tree fern food. Best in shade or partal shade and kept out of strong winds. A handful of straw in crown for winter.
Dicksonia antartica
The hardiest and most popular of all the tree ferns. Nothing will add more drama to a shady spot. The most important thing when growing Dicksonia is to make sure it has plenty of water espacially when rooting. The fronds can be 2m or more even on a small trunk if well fed and watered. We recommend a specialist Tree Fern food. Grows best in moist shade or semi shade out of strong winds.
What You Recieve
You will recieve a 2ft bare trunk ready to frond. As sonn as it arrives give it a good water and plant as soon as possible. If you cant plant straight away store in a shady cool place and keep moist.
Planting And Care
To plant your Tree Fern in the ground dig the area over and add some organic matter then knock in a stake where you want it wiggle the tree fern in to the soil beside the stake to a depth of 3-4cm and tie to the stake it will take 6 to 12 months to root when it has you can remove the post.I like to mulch around the Tree Fern to help keep moistier in and keep weeds down. Once you have the Tree Feern planted make sure its really well watered. The most important thing when growing a great Tree Fern is to keep it well watered and fed you should try to water your new Tree Fern at least 3 times a week, watering it every day would not be to much the more water it has the better it will be. I like to feed my new Tree Fern every 2 weeks with a liquid feed into the crown our Tree Fern food is great for this. Feeding will help the Tree Fern to root and frond it will use the food to do this rather than use its own stored food this will give you a stronger plant going forward. Your Tree Fern will need winter protection in most winters a good handful of fleece or straw in the crown will do in a cold winter like 2011 you will need to wrap the trunk you can use fleece or loft insulation if your Tree Fern is not rooted make sure it stays moist in winter.
Planting Position
Dicksonia antarctica is best planted in moist shade or semi shade you can grow them in sunnier positions but they will need very regular watering. I find that the bigger trunks do better if you want to grow them in sunnier positions as they naturally hold more water.
Soil
Dicksonia will grow in most soil types the important thing is moisture retention so add plenty of organic matter before planting and keep well mulched with bark which will also help keep weed down.
Container Growing
Dicksonia can be grown in a container it is very important to use a good soil based compost and to feed and water regularly. If you find the head of your Dicksonia is getting smaller it needs more food or repotting if you cannot repot you can root prune it and add new soil or think about planting in the garden.
Height And Spread
Dicksonia can reach 20ft but they are incredibly slow growing at 2-3cm a year so its one of those plants you need to buy the size you need. A good Dicksonia can have a frond spread 0f 3-4m with enough food and water.
Evergreen
Dicksonia are evergreen but the fronds will die if we have winter temperatures of -4 to -5 or lower they will go brown. Cut them off leaving 3-4inches of the stem remaining this helps to keep the head open. Then wait for the new fronds to emerge in the spring.
Hardiness
Dicksonia antarctica are hardy down to -10 or more but always need winter protection in the crown and if really cold wrap the trunk.
Uses
Great architectural plant for a shady spot nothing is more dramatic.
